Press Release Criterion Press Release: Romeo and Juliet (1968) (Blu-ray) (1 Viewer)

[lark144]

"Abominations" is kind of harsh. They may not be your cup o' tea but some people like them. I like the new R/J. If Paramout released it, you'd get the poster art. A Criterion cover is singular and stands apart from the crowd. Most blu ray covers are just repurposed key art (like is the new "statement" cover of the new definitive Casablanca inspired?) It's bland, graphically uinteresting, lowest common denominator crap. Occasionally you get some witty, steel book or minimal movie poster designs from the major labels. I think you are in the minority opinion here.

Actually, if you had read my post, you would have discovered that I was responding to a couple of forum members who did not approve of the ROMEO AND JULIET design and I was defending it. And while mine may be a "minority opinion" I though we were supposed to respect everyone's opinion on this forum, unusual or otherwise. I think it's great you love the design of Criterion's TOM JONES. I only wish I did.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Well, I'd save the "abomination" descriptor for various other things that Paramount themselves do... maybe even for the cover of The Untouchables 4K standard release, LOL, (though thankfully and by-far most importantly, the actual disc quality seemed to be spared in that case)... and well, I suppose it coulda been worse in that case (re: the cover artwork) if they didn't immediately edit out some of the tacky foreground elements that were initially included for the original press release IIRC...

_Man_

 

[Henry Gondorff]

I rather like the cover, but if ever there was a worthy candidate for a 4K UHD release, it's this beautiful film with its Oscar-winning cinematography - yet ???

 

[ahollis]

Hopefully with the Intermission

Please inform me. When I saw it in a theatre in High School with a date, I do not recall an intermission. There may have been and if there was it should be included. Thank you.

 

[Mark B]

Cover, schmover. I hope we get the top notch transfer this beautiful film has been waiting a long time for on home viewing media. The only let down I can see is the lack of a proper, thorough documentary and a commentary. But, the film is the most important thing.

 

[battlebeast]

I couldn’t care less about the cover. What’s important is having the movie on Blu ray. A cover/packaging will NEVER stop me from buying a movie I need.

 

[battlebeast]

Paramount probably didn't want to have to deal with the controversy of the bedroom scene with an underage Olivia Hussey. Passing it on to Criterion seems like an obvious choice to me.

And while six of their Paramount titles went OOP a year and a half ago, Criterion still has three times that many that are still in print.

Do you know what titles those were?

 

[Lord Dalek]

-Days of Heaven
-Nashville
-Harold and Maude
-La Dolce Vita*
-Rosemary's Baby
-Don't Look Now

*Individually.

 

[mskaye]

Do you know what titles those were?

I know of Rosemary's Baby, Harold & Maude, Nashville, days of Heaven, Dont Look Now, for certain. White Dog went OOP a while ago. What am i missing ?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Amazon preorder added to post #2

 

[richardburton84]

For those discussing the cover art, apparently it’s derived from a Polish variant of the original poster art.

 

[jayembee]

For those discussing the cover art, apparently it’s derived from a Polish variant of the original poster art.

Quite right. In the page for the title on their website, they say: "New cover based on an original poster design by Maciej Zbikowski"

 

[Tom St Jones]

Considering what Criterion's art director did to TOM JONES among other recent abominations, this could have been much worse. Once upon a time, Criterion's covers used to be so definitive, not to mention attractive. They created a sense of anticipation, so you couldn't wait to watch the film. What happened?

I copied the artwrk from the old HBO Video edition of "Tom Jones" (basically just a pic of Albert Finney against a white backgrnd) and slipped that in over the Criterion artwork. Looks great..

 

[richardburton84]

Indeed it does, Jayembee. On that note, I have to wonder if Criterion also has Zeffirelli’s Taming of the Shrew, which might explain why that has yet to be put out on Blu-Ray.

 

[Stephen_J_H]

My initial reaction was somewhat tempered by the above statement. Does anyone know the source for this ‘4K digital restoration’?

Does this mean a recent digital cleanup of the existing master, or touchup after a new 4K scan of film elements?

If the latter, then does anyone know which elements were used and in what shape?

Or, maybe it means something else altogether.

Can anyone here please shed further light?

Given that Paramount holds worldwide rights, one would presume they also hold the OCN.

I have my doubts that the previous scan was done at 4K.

Criterion is pretty good at revealing the provenance of their masters in the liner notes.

We won't know until Criterion releases further information.

 

[bujaki]

On the whole, I personally love Polish poster art.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Given that Paramount holds worldwide rights, one would presume they also hold the OCN.

I have my doubts that the previous scan was done at 4K.

Criterion is pretty good at revealing the provenance of their masters in the liner notes.

We won't know until Criterion releases further information.

Yes but considering it was a Dino De Laurentiis production Le Studio Canal has some control over the elements.

 

[KMR]

For those discussing the cover art, apparently it’s derived from a Polish variant of the original poster art.

View attachment 162598

Hmm... I just now caught on that the vertical image in the center is a dagger. Duh! The design makes more sense to me now...

 

[ahollis]

Yes but considering it was a Dino De Laurentiis production Le Studio Canal has some control over the elements.

Not in North America.

 

[Robert Harris]

Please inform me. When I saw it in a theatre in High School with a date, I do not recall an intermission. There may have been and if there was it should be included. Thank you.

The intermission could be easily removed from prints, as it was with airline 16s - along with a few additional trims.

Don’t know how 35s were conformed. The IM may have been on a separate roll to accommodate foreign. What I’m saying is that I don’t know if the footage was part of the domestic matrices, or added in print assembly.

I’m currently working on the restoration of a silent, and am reminded of the immense work involved in creating prints. There were separate rolls for each tint and tone, along with another for titles - again segregated by tint.

As a print was conformed, the lab worker would locate each bit of footage and splice it to the next. A huge undertaking, as a reel could involve dozens of separate rolls of film.